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Old 10-23-2011, 09:54 PM
 
258 posts, read 664,431 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bmwguydc View Post
For your initial rental, with your husband's work schedule being variable, you might consider living in Riverdale, as he could be in Midtown in 30 minutes or less via Metro-North. Driving to NJ is not bad from Riverdale as it's very close to the George Washington Bridge. It's a safe, quiet, very family-oriented neighborhood, and is not a bad value, overall. It's also relatively easy to get to Long Island from there, and it neighbors Westchester, if those are also areas in which he may have to visit clients. Fort Lee is also a good consideration, as previously mentioned, but you don't have the same ease of the Midtown commute, having to take the bus and transfer to the subway. Riverdale also has express buses to the east and west sides, stopping on the UES and UWS respectively to Midtown, and an express to Lower Manhattan. It's an easier commute since one does not have to take the subway, and potentially transfer, but the buses can be slower in traffic, though they do use the bus lane and once in Manhattan, the trip is not too bad at all.
Thanks, on the list!
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Old 10-24-2011, 11:42 AM
 
Location: Elsewhere
88,056 posts, read 83,895,248 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jojoboulette View Post
Yes, we are slightly jumping the gun as we don't technically have the offer, but we need to understand what exactly relocating means as he goes to negotiate the offer, hence my questions here.

My guess is we will end up with something central. Just not sure where that will be. I'll probably have more questions once the offer is in and we have a clearer idea of what his territory will cover.
Don't be afraid to jump over to the NJ forum if that's what you decide. Lots of people there familiar with the different areas. Personally, two years ago I traded a shorter commute for the joy of being 15 minutes from the ocean. Now there's something you didn't have in the Midwest!
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Old 10-24-2011, 01:08 PM
 
Location: Nassau, Long Island, NY
16,408 posts, read 33,191,003 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jojoboulette View Post
Thanks for your input, much appreciated! I disagree with you that there are no homes in that price range. Look in any foreclosure listing... there is a plethora in that range, many very close to NYC area, too. And there are soon to be more, from what I can tell.

To answer your question, we've had the 1/2 mill mortgage and really don't want to go there. RE is so inflated (still), and we're just not going to buy into that whole scene again. And the thing is, you don't have to. I should add that I've done a short sale. It really wasn't that bad. So I know what I'm talking about and I'd be up for more paper shuffling if it could keep us out of a $500K+ mortgage.
Your post is reminding me of a lot of questions I have about moving back to urban life. I am out of time for tonight, but I will get back to you on this tomorrow. Hopefully you'll still be around to answer... And if you're not, thanks anyway and thanks for what you did take the time to write.

Aren't we MidWesterners just the nicest folks? Aw shucks!

:P
It is not easy, rather near impossible, in the NYC metro area real estate market to "pick up a real bargain" of a house in a good neighborhood due to short sale and foreclosure. It is not California or Florida or Las Vegas or Arizona, etc., etc., where the foreclosure is done in 3 months and a house costing $1.3 million in a good neighborhood suddenly is on the market for $350,000. It is very, very different here. Homes have held their value and even the banks won't "give away" their REO. Around here, they would rather keep their REOs off the market than sell them for considerably less than what they are worth. The banks are sticklers on short sales here and rarely accept prices that are way below market value like they do in other parts of the country just to unload the house. If you have all cash and can muscle your way to the front of the courtroom steps and are willing to buy a home without inspecting it, MAYBE you can score a foreclosure (provided the upset price is not too high as they start that at what is owed on the mortgage and a lot of homes going into foreclosure do that because they are upside down) BUT it will not be in a great neighborhood/school district. Since you don't know the areas around here it is even more fraught with difficulty.

The "great house in good neighborhood cheap" due to foreclosure or short sale is nothing more than a pipe dream within decent commuting distance of NYC (unless you plan to commute by plane).
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Old 10-24-2011, 01:12 PM
 
Location: Nassau, Long Island, NY
16,408 posts, read 33,191,003 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nybbler View Post
First a correction: the PATH does not go to Penn Station. It goes either to the World Trade Center site in the Financial district, or to Christopher Street near Hudson Street, or 9th, 14th, 23rd, and 33rd street on 6th avenue.

Next, on to the OP: You want "a single family home [...] our privacy, a back yard, quiet streets, greenery, etc. now". You also want prefer older homes. And you want the fabled 1 hour commute.

Good news: You can get all this, most likely. At least close, on the commute. Bad news: not for the price you want, or very close. You don't want a big mortgage? Understandable... but from what you've posted, you CAN afford it, so it's just a matter of making the tradeoff.

Hoboken is a great commute to either downtown or midtown. But privacy, back yard, quiet streets, greenery? No. It's a town mostly populated by young professionals who move out when they have kids. Might be a good place to rent for a while, but I don't think it's what you're looking for.

The train towns in NJ could be your best bet, especially if your husband's employer is on the west side of the city. You should probably ask in the New Jersey forum about that (be sure to read the sticky post about what informaiton to provide), but some towns to consider would be South Orange, Maplewood, Glen Ridge, Rutherford, East Rutherford, Cranford, Westfield. Westchester County is another possibility; when I was looking I found it to be far more expensive for a given commute distance, but if your husband's employer was close to Grand Central, that would make a difference.
I agree with this. My husband used to live there before we got married. The weekend evenings are like a giant frat party run wild up and down Washington. My husband used to call it the place where the yuppies who cannot afford the right neighborhoods of Manhattan end up (making fun of himself).
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Old 10-24-2011, 01:15 PM
 
Location: Nassau, Long Island, NY
16,408 posts, read 33,191,003 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jojoboulette View Post
Well, a year of paperwork and some lawyer fees would be totally worth it to us to keep us out of another ridiculous mortgage. We've been through it, so we know what we'd be getting into. And time is on our side.

I disagree with you that the foreclosures and SS in those prices ranges are total rehabs and in bad neighborhoods. Not what I'm finding at all. And not the experience we had, having done a short sale in an area fraught with foreclosures and short sales. Most, if not all of them, were in excellent condition and going for rock bottom prices. I scratch my head when I see people signing up for mortgages over $300K these days, I really do. Granted, in some areas you don't have a choice, but on the coasts there is quite a bit of opportunity to get into RE at what we think are more realistic prices.

Can you tell me more about needing a lawyer to purchase property in the state of NY? Hadn't heard that one before.
List some of those areas.

You cannot purchase property without a lawyer around here. Believe me, you will be glad to have one because things can get complicated ... houses that don't have proper permits or were modified behind the municipality's back and need variances, etc., etc. The RE market is not simple around here.
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Old 10-24-2011, 08:04 PM
 
11,556 posts, read 12,574,170 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by I_Love_LI_but View Post
It is not easy, rather near impossible, in the NYC metro area real estate market to "pick up a real bargain" of a house in a good neighborhood due to short sale and foreclosure. It is not California or Florida or Las Vegas or Arizona, etc., etc., where the foreclosure is done in 3 months and a house costing $1.3 million in a good neighborhood suddenly is on the market for $350,000. It is very, very different here. Homes have held their value and even the banks won't "give away" their REO. Around here, they would rather keep their REOs off the market than sell them for considerably less than what they are worth. The banks are sticklers on short sales here and rarely accept prices that are way below market value like they do in other parts of the country just to unload the house. If you have all cash and can muscle your way to the front of the courtroom steps and are willing to buy a home without inspecting it, MAYBE you can score a foreclosure (provided the upset price is not too high as they start that at what is owed on the mortgage and a lot of homes going into foreclosure do that because they are upside down) BUT it will not be in a great neighborhood/school district. Since you don't know the areas around here it is even more fraught with difficulty.

The "great house in good neighborhood cheap" due to foreclosure or short sale is nothing more than a pipe dream within decent commuting distance of NYC (unless you plan to commute by plane).
Thank you I Love LI but for clarifying what I was trying to gently explain to the OP, as well as the need for a real estate lawyer. The ways of securing a home purchase or an apartment lease outside of NY do not apply here. It is a stressful experience for everyone at any price/income level. The legal expenses really do depend on what past owners have done to that 60 year old house and if they procured the required variances, COs, permits, and what not. I would never, ever buy a foreclosure here. It is not a bargain. If the owners are going through a foreclosure because they can no longer afford the payments, unless they have relatives that will take them in, there is a good chance that they will have no place to go due to their lack of money for the rental process and bad credit. Therefore, they will remain in the house even after the bank has foreclosed on the house. It could take the bank a year or more to get those people evicted even while the house is up for sale.

OP, understand, it is not the value of the house that makes real estate here so expensive, it is the value of the land. Therefore, a forclosed house is still on a piece of land that has value to the bank. The banks will not give away a bargain just to have it off it's hands.

Last edited by Coney; 10-24-2011 at 08:19 PM..
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Old 10-24-2011, 08:16 PM
 
11,556 posts, read 12,574,170 times
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Property tax is an issue anywhere that is a decent place to live, from my experience.

Read other forums about property tax in Westchester, Long Island,and NJ. I guarantee you that your past experience/understanding of property tax in the midwest will be very different from what local homeowners contend with here. I am speaking as someone who has had close family and friends who moved from NY to Ohio and recently, Kansas. They all thought they had moved to Mars and were extremely pleased with the ease of the process for buying and renting. It's not a matter of opinion. It is a matter of factual information.
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Old 10-24-2011, 08:30 PM
 
241 posts, read 589,733 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jojoboulette View Post
Why not just do Jersey City, if his clients will be in Jersey City? Newport. Exchange Place. All are very nice, and you should be able to find something. It's just NOT going to be something that will match anything like you'd have in the MidWest.

Yeah, I'm getting that > not matching MidWest standard of living in the NY metro area. And we're okay with it, short term.

We're considering it (JC) but to be frank, I've checked some online vids and I'm not impressed. The brownstones look great, but the rest of it looks kinda gray and trashy. Not sure to what to think without having visited the area.

"If it's working from home, I do believe that living in NJ will have some serious tax advantage." Not 100%. Does it have to be 100% to get the tax savings? And what are you talking about other than typical deductions for working from one's home? Is this specific to NJ?
Yeah. Brownstone in JC is probably not a good idea. JC has the revitalized side and the old JC. the revitalized side is very nice, but lacks character.

I would suggest look for the space and location that fits your family, and not arbitrarily limit your search based on aesthetics. You live in the inside of the house, not the outside. Particularly true in the case of rental. But that's just my opinion, you do need to find a place you'll be happy with. But you may want to prioritize your "requirements"

I live in NY state, so I don't really know for sure. But NY (and NYC) has higher tax. NYC has city tax.
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Old 10-24-2011, 09:05 PM
 
258 posts, read 664,431 times
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Yeah. Brownstone in JC is probably not a good idea.
I'm curious why you say that? Are the brownstones in bad areas? I read about areas in JC with plenty o' crackheads at your doorstep. Just what my two-old daughter needs to see when we're headed out to playgroup... :/
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Old 10-24-2011, 09:09 PM
 
258 posts, read 664,431 times
Reputation: 88
@Coney:
Well... maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm not. I've seen plenty of other information about buying below market in NYC and NY. Enough that pursuing it would appear to be worthwhile.

I respect your opinion, professional or otherwise, all the same.
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